The day my parents world stood still

I can proudly say that on 16th January in history around 37 years ago, my parents world stood still. This was when they were “blessed” with my presence.. haha Now one could easily argue that blessed wasn’t the right word for them, but it was for me to have such an amazing set of parents. […]

Local bread, eggs, flowers and herbs

One of the things we immediately noticed when we moved to Keswick Ridge was the amount of local businesses around us. This was a good thing for us, as both of us wanted to see what they were and look for a means to support them. After posting on the community’s facebook page we found […]

Programming the away mode

After a while of not flipping switches, whenever we left the house we got used to saying “Hey Google, turn off all my lights”. But then again, having to say that everytime sounded like repetition to me and we also had to remember to say that. It got me thinking – “If only there was […]

Adding weather into the mix for automations

Being from a brown family, my parents are very careful about their money. This became more apparent as mom started complaining that the kitchen lights are being turned on even if it’s broad daylight outside which was her way of saying I was wasting energy. She suggested that I change the settings so that it […]

Holiday Season – Remembering how the times have changed

Christmas time has always been one of those seasons that brought mixed feelings. As an international student back in 2001 in a foreign country, I would miss my family especially during this time of year where we would all get together and just enjoy each other’s company. For us it was never a matter of […]

Setting up house modes – How to deal with the bright lights

Well, having the lights controlled via the sensors for a month now has been fun as we all forgot how to turn on the lights in the major rooms, so mission accomplished! Now the challenge was that late at night you would have to wake up to have bright lights in your face. That was […]

Center of my life

This post is dedicated to one of the most important people that ground me and keeps me out of trouble and is effectively the reason why I do what I do. She has been through thick and thin times with me and it felt only right that I introduce my first drone video with her […]

A new gem by Mactaquac

Now that we are back in the orange phase, we had to find a place where we could take the parents out for a walk and make sure that they’re still safe so that they can get their exercise and not worry about covid-19. After some googling and recommendations from my niece, Ashley, we found […]

Christmas lights setup – The “Honey I love you” post

Today’s blog was brought to you by – “Honey! I love you”. Those words have always been a warning sign that something will be asked of me. For those who follow Elma’s Instagram, (insert shameless plug to her Instagram account @elmamirandamirza), she put up the Christmas trees and decorations around two weeks ago. And yesterday […]

Kitchen Battle #1 – Beef stir fry with rice noodles

After a week of spending time looking at my little lab rats (sorry Elma, Dad and Mom), they did this for the ensuite, hallway, basement’s living room too. Ahhh kids. So, I added sensors and smart bulbs in the other rooms as well to do what I did for the kitchen, and BAM! the lights […]